French elections have never interested me before, but the contest between Emmanuel Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen has certainly caught my attention.
It beggars belief that in a civilised and highly developed country, presidential candidates are engaged in a debate about Muslim women’s head coverings, and using them in a bid to win votes.
I fear for my Muslim family and friends who live there. If Le Pen were to win, it would mean a direct attack on their civil liberties.
While I have no great respect for Macron, I see him as the lesser of two evils. But how can an item of clothing even be on the agenda when France has so many socio-economic issues to deal with?
Why aren’t they concentrating on how they would tackle the high unemployment levels and the sluggish economy, just for starters?
These serious matters should take up all debate opportunities, but, no, they would rather focus on an issue involving the minority 8.8% Muslim population and the headscarf some women choose to wear.
Clearly neither Macron nor Le Pen have convincing policies on the issues that really matter.
In a televised debate with Macron, Le Pen laid out her intentions: “I am pro banning headscarves in public places. I have said it many times clearly, I think the veil is a uniform imposed by extremists. We must free these women.” I mean, the actual ignorance of what she is saying even at the basic level is so hard to comprehend. She wants to be leader of her country and represent it on a global stage, yet she doesn’t know the difference between the veil and the headscarf.
It disturbs me that even after so many years of attention on Muslim women’s clothing, people still can’t distinguish between the hijab, niqab and burqa.
The niqab covers the whole face with just the eyes showing and the burqa covers the whole face and body. These two items of clothing are worn by less than 0.003% of the French population. Out of a population of 67 million, only 2,210 women choose to wear this form of clothing.
The hijab, which is just a headscarf, is worn by around 31% of Muslim women in France. A poll in 2019 revealed that the majority (58%) said they had never worn one. And doesn’t Le Pen know that the headscarf is not unique to Islam but is embraced by other religions, such as Judaism and Christianity?
Does she see these religions as forcing extreme clothing on to their women too? Why she doesn’t she just come out and say she is Islamophobic?
Her ban on the hijab would be a direct violation of civil rights. Making France a difficult place to live in for French Muslims will have a knock-on effect.
For example, Muslims from other countries will stay away, significantly affecting France’s tourism trade.
We must stop making Muslim women’s clothing a political issue.
It appears that in the TV debate with Macron, Le Pen fared poorly. She would do well to understand that Islamophobia is not a vote winner.
And they would both do well to focus on real issues.
